This invention relates to an electromagnetic relay for use in a high-frequency circuit.
A single-pole relay for switching high-frequency currents has been proposed in which a contact system contained in an elongate shield casing is disposed at one side of the relay coil and includes two contact springs mounted in an actuator which is moved between two switching positions in a direction perpendicular of the relay coil by means of an L-shaped armature due to energization of the coil. The two contact springs extend parallel to the coil axis and cooperate with a total of three fixed contacts inserted in the high-frequency circuit to be switched by the relay, so as to form a single-pole switch-over contact system.
If the relay of the above type were designed so that the two opposite poles of a high-frequency circuit could be switched-over simultaneously by the same actuator movement, two contact systems would be required which would have to be separated from each other by a sufficient spacing to achieve the necessary electrical separation between the two opposite polarities. The overall size of such a relay would become considerable.
Another problem with the relay described above resides in the fact that both contact springs are fixed to the same actuator. Therefore, if the closing and opening function of one contact spring is to be adjusted by applying pressure to the spring to cause a slight deformation thereof, thus a variation in the contact pressure, such manipulation will also influence the characteristic of the other contact spring, so that an adjustment of the whole structure is difficult.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a relay for high-frequency circuits capable of switching two different polarities thereof, in which sufficient electrical separation between the two polarities is achieved at comparatively small overall relay dimensions. It is another object of the invention to provide a relay of this type in which each contact may be independently adjusted.